


Snapped

by elizziebeth13



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon-Typical Violence, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I am denying the fact that bucky killed the starks BTW, Like it is a one off sentence after bucky falls of the train but I want y'all to stay safe, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Not Really Character Death, Soulmates, Suicide mention, You know how that goes for Bucky, You've all seen The First Avenger, so there is no conflict between Bucky and Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-22 11:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21301118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elizziebeth13/pseuds/elizziebeth13
Summary: Meeting your soulmate is supposed to be the best thing that has ever happened to you. So in order to create balance, when soulmates meet, they are snapped to the place where the other had their worst moment.Steve Rogers met his soulmate when he was 6 years old.86 years later he disappears mid battle with the Winter Soldier
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov & Sam Wilson
Comments: 7
Kudos: 131





	1. 1926-1949

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of a tumblr prompt from Shitty-Check-please-aus. It has been sitting around on my computer for 2 years (I was writing a couple thousand words every 5 months) and I FINALLY sat down and finished the whole thing. 
> 
> Fun Fact: I hate writing fight sequences.
> 
> Anyways, Enjoy my soulmate AU Take on Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Meeting your soulmate was supposed to be the best moment of your life. So it was only fair that when you met your soulmate that you would be snapped to the place where they had their worst moment. It could be rather inconvenient when people got teleported halfway across the world, but soul meetings were a common occurrence, so free transportation was pretty easy to come by. When soulmates were reunited they would share a bond that was unbreakable, until death do them part.

* * *

Sarah Rogers was happy to spend any day that Steve was healthy sitting at the park watching him play with the other children from the neighborhood. She was smiling at Steve as he chased a butterfly when another woman sat down next to her. The woman smiled and said “Which one is yours?”

“The little one by the flowers,” she pointed in Steve’s direction, and the woman next to her smiled.

“Mine is the one trying to build a tower with sticks.”

“He’s adorable. Looks like you might have a little engineer on your hands... I’m Sarah”

“Winifred.”

They went back to watching the children just in time to see Steve trip and fall. Before Sarah could even react, Winifred’s son ran over to help Steve up. The little boy held out his hand for Steve.

_ SNAP _

Both of the boys were gone. Winifred and Sarah looked at each other in shock. Sarah broke the silence by saying, “I know where your son is.”

“And I know where yours is. We call him Bucky.” 

“My son is Steve.” Sarah said before jumping up to go find Bucky.

Bucky was in an unfamiliar apartment. He could faintly hear the sounds of a crying baby somewhere else in the building. He knew that he had just been at the park. He wanted to know what happened, but his mom was nowhere to be found. After a few minutes of panic, a blonde woman that he had never seen before walked through the door. She offered him a small smile and said, “Hi Bucky. I’m Sarah Rogers. I’m going to bring you back to your mother.”

He gave her an unsure look and asked, “Where am I? And what happened?”

She walked over to him slowly, as if to give him a chance to escape, and knelt in front of him. “You met my son Steve. The universe thinks that you two are going to be very important to each other, and to show you that, you were sent to the place where Steve had a… very impactful moment.”

“What happened to him?”

“He was really sick last winter.” Sarah decided to leave out the fact that Steve had almost died… twice. Bucky was already pretty scared. 

“Is he better now?” Bucky asked, sniffling a little. 

“Yes, much better.” She stood up and held out her hand to Bucky. “Let’s go find your mother. You can meet Steve.”

Steve was decidedly not scared. He had woken up in rooms that weren’t his with gaps in his memory before. Granted, when that happened he normally woke up in hospitals, but still. This place looked a looked a lot more like his apartment. The woman who burst through the door, looking a little flustered, didn’t look much like a nurse either. 

Steve waved at her, “Did I get sick again?”

She smiled at him, seeming to calm down once they made eye contact, “No, you had your snap… You must be very brave. I had my snap when I was 23 and I was terrified.”

“This place looks like my apartment... What is a snap? Did somebody end up at my apartment?”

She grinned. “My son. You are very quick Steve.” She gestured for him to follow her, “Come with me, I’ll take you back to your mom. And I’ll explain everything on the way.”

Once they got a chance to properly meet, Steve and Bucky became fast friends. Within a matter of days they went from complete strangers to being attached at the hip. They were together so often that Sarah had started preparing extra dinner every night. Bucky was more likely to eat with them than not.

* * *

Steve had gotten sick, really sick, the winter before his 16th birthday. Bucky didn’t move from his side the entire time. By that point they had both received the soulmate talk in school. Bucky had heard that boys were soulmates with girls more times than he could count. It didn’t matter that that statement was seemingly untrue for a lot of people, that was the way things were. 

So, even though Bucky knew that Steve was his soulmate, he hadn’t acted on any feelings that he had towards him. That changed when Steve wouldn’t wake up during one of Sarah’s shifts. Bucky had never been more terrified in his life. For a brief moment, something in his head told him that he would send somebody else to the Rogers apartment one day. The thought made him want to scream.

“Steve, you have to wake up,” he tried to keep his voice steady even as tears started to flow. “We have so much that we gotta do. We never went to Coney Island. We didn’t get to go to the world’s fair and see that crazy inventor… I never told you how I feel.” Steve didn’t move, and Bucky let out a soft sob. He pressed a kiss to Steve’s forehead and whispered “I love you Stevie.”

Steve woke up the next day with Bucky curled around him. Steve squirmed until he was facing Bucky and took a moment to study him. His beautiful features were undermined by the fact that his face was squished weirdly into the pillows. The drool didn’t really help his case either. God, Steve was in love with him.

“Good morning,” Steve whispered. Bucky blinked slowly, as if he was trying to physically pull himself out of his slumber.

“Steve?” he asked as if he wasn’t sure Steve was actually there. Bucky blinked a couple more times before he broke out into a grin. “Steve! You’re awake!” Bucky tackled Steve into a hug and whispered something that sounded a lot like “You scared the shit out of me you punk.”

Steve laughed, “Get off of me jerk, you’ll get sick!” Bucky pushed himself onto his elbows, his arms bracketing Steve’s shoulders. Bucky smiled down at him as if Steve had personally hung the sun in the sky.

Bucky mumbled “I don’t care”, before leaning down to kiss Steve. Steve moved his hands so they were caressing Bucky’s face. Bucky pulled back after a moment, Steve’s hands not moving from his cheeks. They grinned at each other, before Bucky pressed his forehead to Steve’s.

“What was that for?” Steve whispered.

“I love you.”

Steve let out a little laugh and said, “I love you too,” before leaning up to kiss Bucky again.

* * *

From then on, the boys no longer denied their feelings. They were soulmates, and they couldn’t be happier. Bucky and Steve had been best friends for 11 years. They were always pretty affectionate with each other, so nobody paid them any mind when they stood a little too close together, or hugged for a little too long. They couldn’t really act like a couple in public, but behind closed doors they were disgustingly in love. 

* * *

When they were 18, Sarah Rogers got really sick. Steve rented out the extra room in their apartment just to pay for the hospital bills. Bucky was there every step of the way, holding Steve’s hand when he could.

At the funeral, all Steve wanted to do was hold Bucky’s hand. Bucky’s arm around his shoulders wasn’t the same, but it made him feel safe as his whole world fell apart.

* * *

Steve and Bucky had been arguing about the apartment for a week. They were standing on the fire escape when Steve snapped. “Buck! For the last time, I can get by on my own.” He turned to start walking up the steps.

Bucky grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around. “You think I don’t know that Steve? This isn’t about me not thinking you can’t handle being on your own. I know you can support yourself… But the thing is… You don’t have to.” He pulled Steve a little bit closer, “I’m with you til the end of the line.”

Steve knew what that meant to Bucky. That was a public confession of love. This wasn’t pitty. This was asking his lover, his soulmate, to move in with him. Steve smiled, “Ok then… End of the line. We’ll pack up my things tomorrow.” Bucky grinned and pushed him the rest of the way up the stairs and into the apartment. He had to carry Steve over the threshold.

It was the start of a life together.

* * *

Saying goodbye to Bucky as he was shipped off to Europe was one of the hardest things Steve ever had to do. He would never admit it out loud, but his thought as he watched Bucky get on the plane was ‘This would be my new snap moment’. Steve walked back to their apartment alone in a daze feeling guilty about that passing thought. 

When Dr Erskine told Steve that the serum would fix everything wrong about him and enhance the good things he panicked. Everyone told him that loving another man was wrong, every teacher told them that his soulmate could never be another man. If his soulmate was no longer Bucky when this experiment was over, it wasn’t worth it.

“Would the serum change my soulmate?” he asked as Dr Erskine took another sip of his drink.

“Pardon?”

“I’ve already met my soulmate, would it change who it is?”

“Mr Rogers, love is one of the best things about humanity. If anything the serum would only amplify your connection.”

Steve still wasn’t convinced. He took a deep breath and said, “My soulmate is a man. People tell me that is wrong, so would the serum change my soulmate?”

Erskine offered him a sad smile. He put down his drink and grabbed Steve by the shoulder. “You loving your soulmate, who happens to be a man, is not wrong. Those people, who tell you that, are.”

Steve was still terrified of losing Bucky, but at least with the experiment Steve could have Bucky’s back. When the oxygen high that came with breathing properly wore off, and he was no longer focusing on chasing a Nazi through Brooklyn, Steve set his mind to finding Bucky.

Walking back to the base camp with Bucky by his side was one of the happiest moments in Steve’s life. He couldn’t look away from Bucky. It was a miracle that he hadn’t walked into a tree in his stupor. 

That night, after the medical team had cleared Bucky, and the members of the 107th drunkenly stumbled back to their base, Steve pulled Bucky into his quarters so they could have a moment alone.

“You’re an idiot Steve Rogers! I can’t believe you told me that I was taking all of the stupid.” Bucky didn’t look to angry as he scolded Steve. “God I missed you.” Bucky wrapped his arms around Steve and hugged him tight. He held on as if Steve might disappear if he let go. “It’s weird hugging you now that you are taller than me.”

“Is that a problem?” Steve tried not to let on how terrified he was that Bucky might no longer want him. Steve’s feelings hadn’t changed, if anything he wanted to be near Bucky more after being separated for so long. 

“No you punk! I’m with you til the end of the line. You’re stuck with me forever.” Bucky pulled back and looked into Steve’s eyes to make sure he really understood. “Plus I kinda like being able to hug you really tight without worrying that i’ll fracture one of your ribs.”

“Is that so?” Steve grinned.

Bucky chuckled, “Definitely… I love you.”

“I love you too.” Steve leaned forward until they were nose to nose. “I’m with you til the end of the line.”

Steve had to rethink his earlier assertion. The happiest moment of his life was his first kiss with Bucky in 8 months. 

* * *

Erskine was right. Bucky and Steve fell back into their old habits almost immediately. They shared a tent, and cups of coffee in the morning. It took all of Steve’s will power to stop himself from kissing Bucky in front of everybody. After all, he had about 8 months of lost time to make up for.

It took Peggy Carter about 3 days to figure out that they weren’t just close friends. She vowed to protect their relationship however she could. The rest of the Commandos found out pretty soon after. Apparently nobody cared about who your soulmate was when you protected them from Nazi’s on a regular basis. 

* * *

The only thing that stopped Steve from diving after Bucky as he fell was the fact that he had other people depending on him. For a moment, hanging off of the side of the train, he considered just letting go. He spent the rest of the evening trying to drown himself in the strongest alcohol he could find. He angrily destroyed a bar, the bar that Bucky had agreed to follow him in, in the process. The cuts from the broken glass healed within the hour, and the alcohol didn’t stop him from feeling like his heart had been ripped out. 

Steve Rogers was going to end this war for Bucky Barnes and nothing else.

When Steve crashed the Valkyrie in the arctic, his last thought was that he would never snap somebody to that set of train tracks in Russia. His soulmate was Bucky until the day he died, a fact that he was immensely happy about. 

Steve Rogers had 70 years to dream about one mischievous smile.


	2. 2014

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captain America just disappeared mid brawl with the Winter Soldier. Balance is one thing, but this is a little ridiculous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok here is where we get into the Winter Soldier plot.
> 
> Note all fully italic dialogue is meant to be in Russian. I do not know Russian and do not feel like making you look up phrases SO I changed the text style as an indicator.

It was common knowledge that people whose soulmates had died would often get a second soulmate. And of course, as with the first, people would be snapped to the place of their soulmate’s most painful moment.

* * *

Steve was tired and hungry after their mission. He was only half listening to Natasha describe another girl that she knew, this one from the coffee shop that she frequented whenever she came to visit him in DC, the one that they were currently walking to. He finally snapped when she mentioned something about pink hair and an eyebrow piercing. “Natasha! Stop!”

She looked taken aback for a moment, usually Steve didn’t put up much of a fight. He would normally brush her off and avoid eye contact. She held her hands up as if to say she meant no harm. “Ok Steve, I won’t push any more.” She reached forward to grab his hand and waited for him to actually look her in the eyes. “I won’t keep trying to set you up. But you do look you are going to cry. Do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t want you to set me up because I’m not interested in finding somebody else after my soulmate.” Steve paused when Natasha raised her eyebrows. “Bucky… I met my soulmate when I was 6. The 40s and 50s wanted to make me this pinnacle of American Values, and apparently I couldn’t be that if I had a male soulmate, so they erased my relationship with Bucky. They called him my best friend, and he was, but he was more than just that. And I know it’s been 73 years for you guys, but he died 3 days before I put the Valkyrie in the ice.”

Natasha wasted no time pulling him into a tight hug. “So it’s all still really fresh… I’m sorry.”

Steve hugged her back and whispered, “It’s ok, you didn’t know.”

Natasha waited for Steve to let go, knowing full well how much he needed a friend. When he finally pulled away she offered him a smile and said “It’s probably a good thing that Tony didn’t find out that guys were an option for you. He probably would have tried to set you up with one of his 7 cousins.”

Steve grinned and started walking towards a new coffee shop, one without a pink haired barista, “I think knowing 2 Starks is enough for one lifetime.”

“Please, I give 5 years before we have a little red headed Stark baby running around asking a million questions a minute.” Natasha laughed as she pictured a Stark/Potts baby.

Steve smiled even wider, “Kids are great though, I’d be willing to make an exception to my 2 Stark limit for a baby.”

“Of course you would, you are such a dad already. At least then you wouldn’t be trying to parent all of us, even though you are biologically the youngest member of the Avengers.” They continued to walk, making speculations about what Tony’s kid would be like until they got to the new coffee place.

Steve pulled open the door for Natasha and as she walked through she asked “So who was that guy you were talking with earlier, when I picked you up? Are you making friends that aren’t me?”

“His name is Sam. I had just met him when you pulled up.”

“Bet I made you look really cool,” She grinned.

“Yeah, _ you _ were the one who made me look cool. I think he might have a crush on you.”

  


Steve actually starts to become friends with Sam. He goes to VA meetings, at first to make him look cool in front of the cute girl at the front desk, then because it actually really helps. He gets coffee with Sam afterwards, too. Watching Sam run those meetings also makes him realize that going to the Smithsonian to stare at photos of Bucky, and spending the rest of his free time working, or hanging out with Natasha and Tony isn’t helping him. The vets at the meetings are nice too. Although, it’s weird for Steve to be the same age as them when most of them were born in the 80s.

* * *

Steve was at lunch with Sam and Natasha when he got the call that Fury had been attacked in the middle of the street. Steve saw the panic quickly cross Natasha’s face. Natasha slammed down a few bills and apologized to Sam as she pulled Steve out of the cafe. 

Steve and Natasha spent hours trying to find and contact Fury. Turns out Steve just had to go straight home. Steve had never felt as unsure as he did when Fury handed him a flash drive before dying on all of them. He followed Natasha as she tearily left the hospital room. “You looked panicked when I mentioned the man with the metal arm. Who was he?”

She glanced around to make sure nobody was listening to them before saying “Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited for over two dozen assassinations in the last 50 years.”

“So he is a ghost story?”

“I know he’s real. Red Room deployed him a few times when we couldn’t get the job done. I’ve only met him once, after I defected. I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, and all 4 of our tires got shot out. I covered my engineer,” She pulled up her shirt to show him a scar, obviously from a bullet wound, “He shot right through me. Bye Bye bikinis”

“Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now… Let’s go after him.”

“I’ve tried,” She argued, “You were right, he is a ghost story, I’m shocked that we even got the metal arm intel!”

“He killed one of our own, odds are all of the avengers, and every civilian is in danger. We are going to get him.”

* * *

Natasha and Steve get attacked at his old army base while they look into the Winter Soldier. They make it out just in time. Steve feels a little bad about appearing at Sam’s house while on the run from literal Nazis. Nazis that he had thought were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Fury was right when he said not to trust anyone. But then again, Fury had never met Sam Wilson.

* * *

Sam placed plates filled with eggs down on the table. “So wait, this Winter Soldier has appeared on missions as far back as the 50s? If he was a grownup then. He’d have to be like 90 now. There is no way this is a young guy like the descriptions say.”

“Or he hasn’t really been around between missions…” Natasha mumbled. Steve gave her a look that said ‘care to explain’. “You were frozen for 70 years. I’m willing to bet you aren’t the only person who is out of time, metaphorically speaking.”

“So you think they are freezing this guy and taking him out when they need him?” Sam asked, “That would make him a weapon, not an agent.”

“Hydra is evil. Do you really expect anything less?” Natasha said, picking at her food.

“We need more information.” Steve says decisively before eating more eggs than Sam thought was really possible.

More information came in the form of a Hydra agent hanging off of the side of a building.

They get attacked, for like the 10th time that week, before they can get Sitwell back to Maria Hill for questioning. The steering wheel was pulled out of Sam’s hands as if it was attached to the dash with double sided tape. By a metal arm. Within seconds their car was surrounded by Hydra agents, and Sitwell was nowhere to be seen. 

Natasha spotted the soldier and immediately yelled “You two find Sitwell, he’s mine.” 

Steve chuckled when he heard Sam let out a low whistle. Steve ran to take on as many Hydra agents as he could while Sam made sure the civilians were out of the way. Steve tried his best to keep an eye on Natasha as she fought the Soldier. When she got shot he ran to her defense.

The sound of the soldier's arm hitting the shield was deafening. The fight was more intense than anything Steve had been through since waking up, and the gears shifting in that arm made him more unsettled as the fight went on. For once Steve was evenly matched. Steve attempted to hit the soldier with the shield only to have him catch it. Steve looked from the soldier’s hand to his face, making eye contact for the first time. 

_ SNAP _

Natasha stared at the empty space in front of her in abject horror. She distantly heard somebody shout something into a com and the Hydra agents scattered. Sam ran over to her, wide eyed. 

“Did that really just happen?” He was scanning the area to make sure it wasn’t just a perspective trick.

Natasha grabbed his shoulder to stop him from spinning around. “I think it did.”

“Are they--” he trailed off. Not wanting to imply that Captain America himself was destined to be with a Hydra assassin.

Natasha frowned slightly. “Steve’s first soulmate was a man… It’s possible, but it’s a dick move by the universe.” She grabbed Sam and pulled him into the first car they could find. “We have to call Stark.”

* * *

Steve landed on his feet, shield still in his hands. He didn’t have any time to process what had happened before the Winter Soldier landed on top of him, both of them collapsing to the ground. The Soldier looked at Steve then checked his surroundings. Steve’s Russian wasn’t as good as his French, but he picked up the Soldier’s muffled statement “_ What the hell? _”

Steve actually took the chance to look around. There was no snow, but he remembered this set of railroad tracks all too well. “Shit… I can’t be here… not again.”

The Soldier squinted at him before growling, “_You are still my mission_.” Steve barely had time to react before the Soldier was lunging at him, using his own shield to slam him into the rocks. Steve immediately took a defensive position. Even when faced with an assassin who was willing to shoot somebody through Natasha he wasn’t willing to push another person into that ravine… not again. 

Steve held the shield as close to his chest as possible and waited for the next attack. The Soldier wasted no time using his metal arm to punch the shield with all of his strength. The clash was even louder than the one in DC. 

The first cracks in the rocks on the mountain side appeared right near Steve’s left ear. Steve wrapped his arm around the Soldier and covered both of them with the shield. Debris from the cliffside rained around them while deafening cracking noises echoed through the ravine. Steve attempted to angle his shield so the debris would push them further into the mountain side, rather than off of the edge. 

The Soldier knew better than to squirm away from Steve when they could both be pushed off of the cliff at any moment. When the rocks stopped falling around them, Steve changed his hold on the Soldier from an embrace to a headlock. The Soldier squirmed in his arms, trying to hit Steve with his metal arm.

“I know you have a kill order out on me, and once we figure out what happened, I would be happy to resume our gun fight, but we just got warped to Russia, and based on what you said during our landing, neither of us know why. I think we might want to re-evaluate our priorities right now,” Steve said through gritted teeth.

The Soldier answered in Russian, “_Or I could get it over with and kill you now. Even you couldn’t survive hitting the bottom of that ravine _.”

“Do you really want to go back to Hydra with no proof?”

The Soldier deflated. Steve knew he had struck a chord somewhere in the soldier’s mind. In the back of his head he could hear Sam saying something about a human weapon. The Soldier glared at the ground before saying “_Fine! I’ll kill you in DC_.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Steve let the Soldier go, and started to walk along the tracks. “Come on, we need to find a phone.”

The Soldier followed at a short distance. Steve didn’t need to look back to feel the weight of the Soldier’s glare. 

* * *

Natasha and Sam found a pay phone 2 miles away from where Steve and the Soldier disappeared. Natasha didn’t trust her S.H.I.E.L.D. phone after learning about Sitwell and Rumlow, and something in her gut told her that Sam’s cell phone wasn’t a viable option either. 

Tony picked up on the third ring. “Stark! How can I help you?”

“Is there a tracker in Steve’s shield?”

He paused for a moment, “Natasha?”

“Yes! Answer my question!”

“Of course…. Why?”

“I need you to use that tracker to find him.” Natasha looked around to make sure nobody was listening to her. Sam took that as a cue to stand watch. She lowered her voice just in case. “He just disappeared mid brawl with the Winter Soldier.”

Tony, on the other hand, did not feel the need to lower his voice, and yelled “Do you mean to tell me--”

“As far as we know, yes.” Natasha could hear Tony shuffling around on the other end of the line. He was quiet enough for her to hear the airlock to his jet open. 

“He isn’t real, is he? Not to mention he is a HE. Why wouldn’t Steve tell me about that? I’m one of his 4 human friends.”

“His soulmate, Bucky, had just died when he got wrapped up in the Avengers Initiative… and nobody wants to date Lorenzo!”

Natasha could hear the engine starting up. “Of course his soulmate was Barnes… So wait, Steve’s new soulmate is a Hydra assassin? That seems fundamentally wrong.”

“Yes… The Universe paired Captain America with the person that should be his mortal enemy. Now go find him!”

“I’m on my way… What about the soldier?”

“I have a hunch about where he is, but Steve is much more important right now. He can help you find the Soldier once you two are together. This whole thing is making me think that he might be somebody we save, not somebody we stop.” Natasha hung up the phone and pulled Sam towards a bus stop. “Tony is gonna get him. We have to see if we can get the real name of Hydra’s favorite sniper.” 

* * *

Steve had been walking with the Soldier for 40 minutes and there was still no sign of a station, or a nearby city. He glanced behind himself. The soldier looked like he was frowning, although it was hard to tell with the lower half of his face covered. “Is there any chance that you know where we are, or if there is a station nearby?”

The Soldier glared at him and said nothing.

“Alright, I’ll take that as a no,” Steve muttered under his breath. He continued walking, the Soldier about a meter behind. 

* * *

A lot happened in the hour that Steve and the Soldier were gone. They had been picked up by Maria Hill, who knew exactly what hydra planned on doing. Apparently even the great Tony Stark didn’t have the ability to find out every one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s dirty little secrets. But at least Sam and Natasha had an enemy that they could see now. 

* * *

“Are you also wondering how we ended up here?” Steve asked.

The Soldier let out a clipped, “_No_.” Steve guessed that one word in Russian was better than no response at all. 

“For a minute I thought--”

“_We aren’t friends. You are my mission. The only reason that I haven’t killed you yet, is that I need to get back to my handlers with your dead body._”

Steve frowned. They kept walking along the tracks until Steve saw what looked like a station. “Maybe they have a phone,” he called over his shoulder as he broke into a jog. He arrived moments before the Soldier, only to be disappointed by what he found. The tiny station was completely abandoned. Paint was peeling off of the walls, wiring was frayed and sections of the track were coming up. Steve looked around for any sort of time stamping. “When was the last time this set of tracks was used?”

“_Probably before people invented the phone that you are so desperately looking for,_” the soldier mumbled, as he dragged his metal fingers through a thick layer of dust.

Steve quirked a smile. That was exactly something Tony would have said in this moment. It was odd to see the Soldier act so human, so much like a friend. Steve figured that the station signaled some form of community. “Maybe we are near something else though.”

“_You are very optimistic… About far too many things._” The Soldier gave Steve a quick once over. Something flashed in his eyes, like he was trying to remember something. He attempted to pull himself up onto the platform of the station so he could sit. The Soldier landed heavily, causing the wooden platform to groan.

“This place is pretty old, you might want to--” Steve was cut off by a crack from one of the support beams. Steve pulled the Soldier back down onto the tracks just in time for the support beam to give out. The beam crashed onto the platform, causing the area where the Soldier was just sitting to splinter. Steve grabbed the Soldier’s arm when the ceiling started to groan. Pieces of the ceiling started crashing around them as they ran out. 

They were at the threshold for the station when the entire structure gave in. One of the industrial light fixtures hit the Soldier’s left shoulder, pushing him to the ground. Steve pulled him up and pushed through the splintering wood onto the tracks outside. The collapse of the station pushed the two of them to the tracks outside.

Steve pushed himself onto his knees, holding out a hand for the soldier. “Are you --” The Soldier’s mask had fallen off in the struggle to get out of the station. For the first time, Steve could see the soldier’s face, a jawline he knew all too well, and a face that he had dreams about. He fell back into a kneeling position, but kept his hand out, wanting to touch. He struggled to breathe. “Bucky?”

The Soldier, Bucky, gave Steve a mistrustful look. He spoke in english for the first time, with the voice that Steve had longed to hear for years, “Who the hell is Bucky?” He looked confused at his own outburst, like he was trying to find something lost in his mind. He pushed Steve’s hand away. “Why are you helping me?” He stood up and started walking in the direction they had originally been heading. 

Steve ran to catch up. “Bucky what did they do to you?”

Bucky turned around and stared at Steve, unfiltered rage in his eyes, “I’m not Bucky. You are my mission. Don’t speak to me like you care.” Bucky turned and kept walking.

Steve blinked back the tears forming in his eyes and mumbled, “I guess the location makes sense now.” He watched Bucky walk for a moment before moving to follow him.

Steve and the Soldier, _ Bucky_, found a small town about an hour later. They were having what looked like a farmers market in a parking lot. An older woman, who apparently didn’t recognize either of them, and didn’t seem to care that Bucky was heavily armed, came up to them with a basket of fruit. She spoke in Russian, “_You both look like you need something to eat. Have one for free! _” She handed them each a plum. Bucky stared at her quietly, as if he was unsure about how to deal with kind gestures, and touches that didn’t hurt. Steve smiled and thanked her in very broken Russian. She chuckled at his accent and walked off.

Bucky watched Steve take a bite out of the plum, gauging his reaction. After all, that woman could be trying to poison him. When it seemed like nothing was going to happen, Bucky finally started eating. 

Steve asked the vendors at every stand about a phone. The third woman that he talked to pointed him towards an old pay phone by the entrance to an ally. 

Steve called Sam. Bucky watched him in confusion while he fiddled with the plum. Steve could feel his eyes start to well up as the phone rang. By the time Sam picked up tears had started to fall. 

“Wilson!”

“Sam! It’s Steve, is there any chance that you can put Natasha on the phone?” Steve didn’t really care that his voice sounded so rough. 

“Steve! Yes, thank god you are alright!” 

There was a muffled sound from the other end of the line, then Natasha spoke. “Steve! Where are you? Sam and I freaked! Hydra panicked too!”

“I landed in Russia, where Bucky died, and walked for a few hours til I found a town.”

“Oh thank god, we thought that you had been snapped, that your soulmate was Hydra. But Bucky dying is your worst memory. If this was a soul meeting the soldier would be there and you would be somewhere else.” Natasha sounded relieved.

“He is here,” Steve said. He had no clue how to explain this to her. “This is where Bucky died. It was my most painful moment, and also Bucky’s, so it makes sense that we would both end up here.”

“Pardon?” 

“Bucky is the Winter Soldier. Even after all this time the bond was never broken. But Hydra did something to his head. He doesn’t remember me, and I didn’t know who he was, so we got snapped.”

“Shit! Stark is on his way to extract you. Sam and I are making some plans. I’ll see if we can figure out what Hydra did to him, and how we can stop them. He might have a trigger phrase that can bring him back. I’ll tell Stark the second we figure it out. See you soon.” She hung up before he could respond. 

Steve hung up the phone and wiped his eyes with his shirt sleeve. He walked over to Bucky and said “A friend is coming.”

Bucky looked at him with absolute confusion. “Do I know you?”

“Yes Bucky, you do! You are my best friend, my soulmate.” Steve reached out to touch Bucky’s shoulder. Bucky grabbed Steve’s arm before he could actually make contact, and shoved him back. 

“LIAR! You are not my soulmate. I don’t have one. You are my mission and I’m going to end you before your friend can stop me!” Bucky shoved Steve against the brick wall of ally. Steve didn’t have time to get his shield off of his back; he tried to defend himself, but he didn’t want to take the offensive. He didn’t want to hurt Bucky. Bucky lunged at Steve, attacking with trained precision, nothing like the back alley fights they used to get in together (because Steve was an idiot, as Bucky normally pointed out). Bucky only landed one out of every couple of punches and kicks, but Steve couldn’t keep up by only playing defense.

It was only a matter of minutes before Steve was on the ground, bleeding from multiple cuts on his face and arms, with Bucky leaning over him yelling “You are my mission.”

Bucky pulled a knife out of one of the holsters on his belt. He pulled his arm back to put as much force into his attack as possible. Steve looked up at him, the love of his life, his soulmate who didn’t know who he was, and said, “Then finish it. Because I’m with you til the end of the line.”

Steve saw Bucky’s eyes widen, and heard the knife clatter to the pavement by his right ear. Bucky looked panicked. He took a deep breath and asked, “What did you just say?”

Steve could see the recognition bleeding into his eyes. “You remember… You remember that.” He tried to sit up, but failed with the weight of Bucky straddling his stomach. “Bucky, you said that the me when we were 18 and we moved into our first place.”

Bucky mumbled, “It was our I love you....” He looked surprised at his own words. “Why do I remember that?” He backed up until he was sitting on the pavement. 

Steve took the chance to sit up and grabbed Bucky’s flesh hand. Bucky looked at him, and in that moment looked more like a frightened animal than the world’s most deadly assassin. Steve spoke softly, “Because you’re still Bucky Barnes, and no matter what Hydra does, they can’t change that. We’re gonna help you. I promise Bucky. Please just come with me, I won’t let them hurt you.”

The look that Bucky gave Steve said that he genuinely believed him.

* * *

Steve had been hard to track. It seemed that he had been on the move, but he ended up stopping in a farming town in Russia. Tony figured that he had ended up at a hydra base and tried to find help. He hadn’t heard anything from Natasha. Although Maria Hill said that it was imperative that he fly straight to DC the second that he retrieved Steve. 

Tony landed the jet in what looked to be an empty parking lot at almost the exact coordinates of Steve’s shield. He could see Steve sitting on the sidewalk talking to somebody. Tony jumped out of his seat and opened the door to the jet. He started walking down the stairs towards Steve. “Capsicle, Natasha sent me to get…” He trailed off when he noticed who Steve was sitting with. He knew the metal arm with the red star through second hand stories from S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. But he knew that face from the old photo of the Howling Commandos that sat on his father’s desk for his entire childhood. He stopped halfway down the stairs. “No way…”

Steve offered him a smile that accentuated his split lower lip. “Way.”

The Winter Soldier himself leaned over to Steve and loudly whispered, “Do I know him too?”

Before Steve could answer, Tony replied, “You knew my father. You’re James Barnes right?”

He looked unsure. “I think so?” 

Steve nodded in response to Bucky and Tony’s question. Tony’s heart broke a little. From what he had heard, James Barnes was the best man his father ever knew, and that was really saying something. “Both of you get in, we have some Hydra agents to detain.”

Tony and Steve sat in the pilot’s seats, allowing Bucky to perch himself in the back of the cockpit and stare at them. Steve spent most of the ride back to DC explaining the intel that he had on Hydra and what was going on with S.H.I.E.L.D. They spent a couple of minutes talking about Steve’s soulmate, about Bucky. He told a very brief history of their lives together, every once and a while looking at Bucky to see if he would react. For the most part, Bucky just looked lost. 

Tony was given a very specific place to bring Steve when he found him. Maria only told him the coordinates to what ended up being a deserted warehouse just outside of the city lines of DC. Tony and Steve were shocked to see Maria sitting at a table with Natasha, Sam, and a very much alive Nick Fury. Fury didn’t seem phased by the fact the Sergeant James Barnes was alive. Maria hid her surprise well enough.

“So that’s why you disappeared Captain.” Director Fury said, not even bothering to explain how he survived, or give them a moment to process the fact. “How did you get him to come willingly.”

“Hydra’s brainwashing wasn’t good enough to erase his soulmate…” Natasha looked unimpressed with his answer. She raised an eyebrow at him, as if to tell him to be honest. “I accidentally said a trigger phrase that brought him out of the Hydra brainwashing.” Steve looked over at Bucky who was standing motionless next to him. Steve could tell he was tense, that he would run the second something went wrong.

Sam was the first person to directly address Bucky. “Do you remember anything?”

Bucky shrugged and mumbled, “It’s hard to tell what’s real.”

Steve barely caught Sam say “Told you, weapon, not agent,” under his breath. 

Fury took the pause as a cue to explain why he brought them all here. “Natasha and Master Sergeant Wilson have helped us come up with a plan to prevent Hydra from using those helicarriers from killing thousands of people.”

* * *

Sam, Tony and Steve each needed to place an override chip into the computer systems on one of the helicarriers. Natasha and Fury would focus their efforts on the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, and Maria Hill was trusted with keeping an eye on the (former?) Winter Soldier. A plan much easier said than done, considering they were outnumbered 100 to 1. 

Hydra very clearly wasn’t expecting Iron Man to attack a helicarrier that he built. He flew towards the helicarrier as Maria explained the protocall. “The helicarriers will fire in exactly 10 minutes. We can’t shut them down, but if they fire at each other nobody will be killed.” The Hydra agents stationed on the helicarrier to greet him were very clearly out armed. Tony was able to replace the chip with relatively minimal effort and about 3 bullet dents in his suit.“Aright Capsicle and Flyboy. That was too easy. Which one of you should I back up first?”

Steve’s voice crackled over the earpiece, “Help Natasha!”

Tony flew out of Helicarrier One to see an army of armed Hydra agents shooting at Sam off of the deck of Helicarrier Two. He was impressive to watch, swooping between bullets with the grace of an actual falcon. Tony was glad he had stayed to watch, because moments later a shot hit one of the joints Sam’s left wing, blowing it clean off. Sam spiraled towards the ground like a helicopter seed.

“I’ve got you flyboy! You think you can shoot hanging by one wing?” Tony shot after Sam, grabbing the joint of his remaining wing. 

“I could shoot if you were holding me upside down.” Sam responded with a chuckle “Thanks for the lift!” Sam and Tony were able to clear the helicarrier and get the chip installed moments before they were ambushed by another team of agents.

“Time to get out of here!”

“I was thinking the same thing Stark!”

* * *

Steve would gladly have brought Bucky with him on Helicarrier Three. He was surrounded by Hydra agents, and each time he knocked one out, more replaced him. Steve was quickly getting sick of Greek myths. Sam’s call of “Chip 2 is in place” was punctuated with a bullet to Steve’s left shoulder. He continued to push through the swarm to the central hub, taking out agents with his shield. His kevlar suit only helping so much.

Steve was hit 5 more times before he could get to the central hub. Maria’s voice crackled into his ear. “Steve you have 30 seconds. He somehow managed to get the chip in one handed while shooting. He grinned when he heard the chip click into place.

“Alright Maria. Override!”

* * *

Bucky could hear everything that was going on. He’d felt excitement for the first time since… since he could remember, when he watched Natasha shoot Alexander Pierce. He was keeping his eye on the map of people to be eliminated, people that he would have been sent to kill: Dr Stephen Strange, Maria Rambeau, The President (again), Kamala Kamm (a fucking high schooler), and thousands of others.

“Alright Maria. Override!” Steve’s voice sounded forced. It sounded like he was struggling to breathe. Suddenly Bucky was flooded with memories and emotions, an overwhelming instinct to protect him at all costs. None of it with context. Something in him knew that the had to get to Captain Rogers. 

He looked over to Agent Hill. “He’ll die!”

She looked seconds away from crying. “Captain’s orders.”

Steve spoke over the intercom again, “Everyone protect yourselves. And protect Bucky.”

Bucky heard the first helicarrier fire. He looked up at Agent Hill then at the door. She made no moves to stop him but still asked, “Where do you plan on going?”

“To help... It’s not the end of the line yet.”

* * *

Helicarrier Three shook with the impact of the first beam. Metal support structures were falling around Steve as he tried to figure out an exit strategy. For the most part the Hydra agents were attempting to evacuate. Others took the classic 1940s route out.

Steve had made it to the part of the hull that he entered when he was shot in the arm. The pain caused him to drop his shield. As he watched it tumble to the potomac, he heard the agent who shot him say, “Hail Hydra.” Steve turned in time to see the agent’s mouth start foaming. 

Moments later the floor gave out below him.

Steve hit the water within seconds. His last thought before he passed out being about how he was never going to use air travel again. 

Bucky watched Steve land in the river.

He dove in without thinking.

* * *

Steve woke up to the sound of Marvin Gaye. He scanned the room. Sam was asleep in a chair near his bed. Steve mumbled “On your left,” happy when Sam twitched into a smile. His eyes moved over to the corner of the room where Bucky, who was now dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, had his knees pulled up to his chest. Steve smiled. “Hi Buck.” He fell back asleep before he got a response.

* * *

The hospital cleared Steve to go home 2 days later, which is how he ended up sitting in Sam’s kitchen with another pile of eggs in front of him. He was picking at his food in relative silence while Sam made breakfast for everyone else. Sam would have been a little more annoyed with the sheer amount of people in his 2 bedroom home if **The** Tony Stark hadn’t just paid for all of his groceries, and a new coffee maker for some reason.

They both looked up at the sound of shuffling in the doorway. The second Sam saw Bucky he slipped out of the room to give them some privacy. Bucky looked around the room for a moment, clearly very nervous, before his eyes finally landed on Steve. “I pulled you out of the river.”

Maria had already told Steve that, but for some reason it felt different hearing it from Bucky. “Thank you. You saved my life.”

Bucky looked down, avoiding eye contact. “I had to. It’s my job… You’re Steve Rogers.”

Steve offered him a sad smile, “Yes… I am.”

Bucky nodded, then continued, “Your mom was named Sarah Rogers. She made me stay over for dinner every Friday night…. And she let me stay with you when you were sick.” Steve started smiling even wider. Bucky never wanted him to stop smiling like that. “I told you I loved you for the first time in that apartment. You wouldn’t wake up and you scared the crap out of me… Steve, I… I remember you.”

Steve stood up and walked towards Bucky. “Bucky. I missed you so, so much.”

Bucky met Steve in the middle, clutching Steve’s shoulders. “I love you.”

Steve felt like he could cry. “I love you too.”

Bucky touched his forehead to Steve's, "They didn't take you away from me."

Their first kiss in 73 years was officially the happiest moment of Steve Rogers’ life… for now. He had a whole lot to look forward to. 

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading everyone!


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